John Carpenter's classic remake of 1951's The Thing From Another World is a rare remake of any kind to decisively out-gun the original, delivering a terrifying, paranoia-laced alien invasion movie with state-of-the-art practical effects which have aged extraordinarily well. As Kurt Russell's MacReady and the rest of the Antarctic station's residents attempt to tease out the shape-shifting creature killing off the team one by one, there's an overarching feeling of unpredictability, that anyone, even MacReady himself, could be The Thing. Right to its grim conclusion, Carpenter holds onto this feeling of anxiety-laden uncertainty. Best Moment: The nerve-wracking blood test sequence, in which a piece of heated copper wire is applied to a sample of each character's blood in order to determine who The Thing is. Sequels: The 2002 videogame of the same name acted as a quasi-sequel, revealing the fates of MacReady and Keith David's Childs, even if it's ambiguous as to whether this is canon or not. A prequel, also called The Thing, was released in 2011, but was mostly reviled by critics and was a financial flop.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
